February 24, 2010

President Barack Obama

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

Earlier this month, we learned of your call for a bipartisan summit so that our nation can
move forward in solving our health care crisis. And now tomorrow, a select group of
federal lawmakers will contribute their health reform vision to the national dialogue.

However, we think you’re missing a critical element in this discussion—the ideas of

thousands of state legislators. We know that any federal health care legislation will
eventually rely on the states to implement, manage, and fund the reform effort. Many
state legislators, like us, are also concerned about the effects that a proposed individual or
employer mandate will have on our citizens and small businesses. We are disappointed
that state legislators have not been involved in this effort and that you would not include
state legislators in tomorrow’s meeting.

That’s why we’re moving forward with a nationwide effort to ensure that the cornerstone
of any state or federal health reform is the protection of patients’ rights. We are the
sponsors of the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, an initiative by 36 states to
protect our patients’ rights to pay directly for medical care, and to prohibit the
government from fining our citizens for failing to purchase government-approved health
insurance. This quickly-moving measure was recently passed with bipartisan support in
houses of the Virginia and Tennessee legislatures, and will be put before Arizona voters
in November.

So while you discuss health reform solutions at Blair House tomorrow, we will pursue
our own initiatives—not only to protect health care freedom, but to also reduce health
costs; increase access to quality, affordable health insurance; and improve the quality of
care. We know you share these goals, we believe that there are valuable lessons to be
learned as state legislators move ahead with innovative health reform solutions, and we
continue to hope that state legislators will be invited to participate as this process moves
forward.

Sincerely,

Representative Linda Upmeyer

Minority Whip, Iowa House District 12
Chair, ALEC’s HHS Task Force

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